Reaffix
by Blood.Drop.Lolita
Summary: AIDA may be thought to be gone, but there is something lurking in the horizon of The World that soon threatens every being on the planet. Is it possible to stop this new "bug" or will The World crumble, along with life as we know it? better than it sound.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: I wrote this a couple years ago, but I got into a proper order to be published. I finally decided to try and organise it. So, we'll see how this goes.)

Summery: AIDA may be thought to be gone, but there is something lurking in the horizon of The World that soon threatens every being on the planet. Is it possible to stop this new "bug" or will The World crumble, along with life as we know it? (rated M, just to be safe.)

Disclaimer: I own the idea, the story, and any other little thing I came up with. Everything belongs to its respective owners.

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A year had passed since AIDA was destroyed. Although some small fractions remained in unexplored areas of The World, everything had resumed normalcy.

He thought this would be a nice break from everything, when actually he found himself very bored lately. With no impending crisis, and no reason to play other than to chat or have a 'normal' adventure… things were pretty boring for young Haseo.

All the rogue did was… well, chat and go on adventures. The breath of relief had quickly turned into a smothering blanket of boredom. As far back as he could remember, which was not very far at all, he had never liked "normal" adventuring.

Today Haseo could be found sitting in his usual place nowadays, the docks near Canard's original location for their Home. He normally sat there and just waited for a new event to be posted. Today was different, and he had a feeling it was to be very different.

"Good evening, Haseo. Why are you setting here by yourself?" the familiar hushed tone of the elegant brandier reached his ears. Haseo never knew how to feel about the man. While he was a good friend, and a very loyal one at that, sometimes Endrance just really creeped him out. However, right now was not one of those times.

"Hey Endrance. Eh, I'm just hangin out and relaxing. It's been a slow day." Even though Haseo had his back to him, he knew Endrance nodded once he had finished speaking. Then a silence fell over the both of them, as what usually followed their awkwardly short and abruptly ended conversations, if you could call them that. The most Haseo had actually spoken with Endrance was over a year ago, when he was first starting to know the man. He'd found out he liked cats, and flowers, and was a recluse that lived with his parents and had holed himself up in his room… and that the man was deeply in love with him. After all this time, it was obvious that when Endrance looked at Haseo, the feelings of passion burned ever as strongly as they did the first day they met.

Haseo began to get tingles, the bad kind, shooting down his spine. He hated it when people stood over or behind him, because he was unable to see them, "well what're you doing? If you're going to stay, then at least sit down."

He heard Endrance give a barely audible chuckle, then with his usual grace and silent footsteps, the brandier sat himself beside the rogue.

"Hm… it's beautiful, isn't it Haseo…" Endrance said after another moment. The eternally setting sun made the brandier's crimson eyes shine in a way Haseo had only seen a few times before. It was a shine that showed their true depth, and allowed you to see beyond the pixels and codes that made them such. It allowed you to see through to the person on the other side, the real being behind those eyes.

"I guess." Haseo answered once he was able to tear himself away from those dangerously endearing eyes.

"But…" the brainier muttered to himself in his delicate tone, "not anywhere as beautiful… as you…"

The silence settled again, but this time it was not as bad. The gentle lapping of the waves against the concrete and stone pier was such a relaxing noise, it would have been nothing but rude to speak overtop it. When the water began to calm from the passing ships and birds, the sound also died away.

Haseo sat with his hands a bit behind him, using them as support, and leaning his head back to look at the orange sky. He swung his legs idly, feet barely grazing the water's surface. He sighed and finally spoke, "So what's it like in Kanagawa?" After saying that sentence, Haseo realised how little he knew about the man who seemed to know most everything about him. Haseo leaned his head against one of his upraised shoulders that was supporting his neck and turned to look at Endrance, who was staring thoughtfully into the amber water.

".. I've… never really paid it much attention... I never hung out after school, and I never went out anywhere."

"I thought you said you were really popular in high school?"

"…With girls, yes... And I suppose a few boys. Besides, I'm talking about middle school." He continued to stare into the waters, "Those were the worst years of my life... but... I can see the ocean from my window, and since I've met you... I can enjoy the view that much more... I had never appreciated it…" He paused a moment, as he always did whilst speaking, "…Haseo..."

"Hm?"

"Sometimes… I imagine you're there with me… or when I'm watching the sunset... I imagine you're watching it, too..."

Haseo said nothing. Part of him had wanted to laugh... but the other part was deeply touched Endrance thought about him so often... then that part that had wanted to laugh wanted to back away slowly, turn and run, and never talk to the man again.

Endrance carried on the conversation for him, "What's it like in Tokyo...? I've never been there..."

"Are you serious? You live that close and you've never been?"

Endrance shook his head 'no'.

"It's great... well, once you figure your way around it. It's really hectic of a morning and of an evening time, when everyone gets off work and school... if you were to fall down, you'd probably get trampled."

"...I see..."

Then it would happen, Endrance would get that look in his eye, which showed his mind was drifting along with Haseo's conversation.

"Haseo, I'm... eating better... my mother made me some breakfast the other morning, and I... I actually ate most of it. I could eat it because I knew you wanted me to... and it tasted good..."

"That's great to hear, Endrance."

He smiled at Haseo, the only person he reserved genuine, true smiles for.

"I got another cat... right now it's a kitten... It's so small... it's grey... and he likes to attack my hands while I'm typing. He's very feisty... I think it's because he was the runt of the litter..."

"Really now?" Haseo chuckled.

Endrance nodded, "He follows me all around my room, and I'm training him to set on my shoulder..."

"Doesn't that hurt? You know with the claws and the digging into your skin part?"

"It doesn't bother me. It's actually sort of... enjoyable. Where ever I sleep, he sleeps curled up next to or on me."

"Sounds like you made a good choice, Endrance. What's its name, anyway.?"

"...Ryou."

_Ryou... He named his cat after me... __I don't know whether to be creeped out or flattered._ The image of him being curled up next to Endrance made his skin crawl. _Yeesh._

Haseo stood up and stretched, then looked down at the still seated Endrance, "Well, I'm gonna log off for a while. I have a paper I need to finish, and I've put it off till last minute."

"Oh… okay…"

The rogue felt bothered by Endrance's melancholy gaze at the waters, and added, "Me and Kuhn are going on a quest tomorrow. We need three people to be officially entered, how bout you come along?"

Haseo knew Endrance's hatred of quests and adventures, but he knew how much Endrance adored being invited on such quests with the rogue.

"…Alright, Haseo… I will wait for your return." Endrance finally said. Haseo took that as a 'yes'.

"Ok. Later." He was too frazzled about his essay to take the last bit to mind, too much to do. Not everyone could be a hermit and do nothing but game all day. With that, he logged out. And with that, Endrance remained seated where he was for a long while.

He was left with his thoughts, something he was used to, but something he still greatly despised. His mind was his best weapon and his own worst enemy. A short mail jogged him out of his pensive nature.

"Hrm… interesting…" He raised his eyebrows and lazily stood up, making his way to the Chaos Gate to enter the three familiar keywords that were frantically typed to him in the mail sent to him.

---------end chapter 1--------

(A/N: I have about half of chapter 2 written, so it shouldn't be too long. Oh, and sorry if there's some errors. You know, distractions and all that. :3 please review! But no flames, because those only hurt and do nothing but discourage a writer.)


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) sorry this took so long, I totally forgot about this story and I've been super busy, but hey I've graduated now so I can devote more time to my fanfics! Hope it's enjoyed.

_Well that was a total failure. _Haseo thought bitterly to himself as he logged into The World. His paper had gotten finished. But, naturally, the printer would "crap out" on him when he printed it out, and he wouldn't discover its mistake until _after_ he had already turned his paper in and got it back to see how incoherent and screwed the faulty printer had made his paper. The good side to this is he didn't totally fail the assignment, only because the first two pages were fine. The teacher did not see fit to cut him any slack because he had had all week to finish this assignment, and therefore had a week to catch and correct the mistake or find a residence whose printer worked properly.

"Aw, to hell with it!" the rogue mumbled to himself. The familiar, gentle tones of Mac Anu's root town filled his headset. Normally he would wander around town, and eventually make his way to his favourite setting spot. He started off to do just that when…

"Howdy Haseo! How're you today?" Came a chipper voice from behind him that both elated and annoyed him, "Oh yeah, you heard anything from Yata lately?"

"Hey Kuhn. I guess I'm alright." Haseo paused a moment before continuing, "Actually, Yata hasn't made any attempt to contact me at all. I'm confused about this _advanced AIDA strain_."

"Yeah, you and me both... I thought we wiped all that stuff out of here... Well, from what I've been told by Pi, Yata's researching it right now and trying to figure out just what the hell this is." Kuhn sighed after he finished his statement. Haseo had nothing to say to that. It tweaked his already short fuse that he felt Yata was withholding information.

"Yeah…"

"So, anyway, Haseo, didn't we have a date today?" Kuhn chuckled.

Haseo sighed, "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Sorry, I've been totally swamped today."

"Hm, its ok. Let's just get started on it right now." Kuhn and Haseo set off for the stand where you registered and completed quests. The NPC addressed they needed another member in their party.

"Oh yeah! Haseo," Kuhn turned to face the rogue, "I didn't have any luck finding anyone. What about you?"

"Well, Endrance said yesterday he'd join us. I don't know where he is, though."

"I'm here, Haseo…" Endrance appeared behind the younger player, right on cue. It was rather disturbing to Haseo how the man _knew _when it was appropriate for him to show up, "sorry I was… occupied…"

"It's fine, as long as you showed up, it doesn't really matter how late you were." Kuhn chuckled and re-registered the three-member party. Haseo watched the brandier out of the corner of his eye; something about the man seemed off, and distracted. Unknown to Haseo, the watched brandier kept a crimson eye on the little rogue, as he knew something terrible was in store for all of them… and he had a feeling that it would all begin with this quest.

The objective of this mission was pretty simple: locate and kill the boss, and then bring back the special, one-time only item for the reward. The three made their way to the Chaos Gate, entered the keywords and warped to a gloomy field. "Alright!" Kuhn said in his usual, happy and confident tone, "the boss is normally on an island secluded to itself. So…" Kuhn looked up at the map overhead, then sweatdropped and signed unhappily, "every area is an island to itself. That narrows it down."

Haseo chuckled, "Like they'd make it that easy, Kuhn. They only reserve the really obvious quests for newbies. The harder the quest, the greater the bounty."

Endrance scanned the area, "…does no one find it peculiar that we are the only party in this area…?"

"Hrm… you gotta point there, Endrance…" Kuhn's smile faded and he stepped back to take in the area around him.

"We'll worry about that later." Haseo thought it to be strange, too, but he did recall there were some special events that only one party was allowed in the area at a time, "right now we need to focus on our main objective."

"I believe the most logical thing to do is to split up, so as to complete the area faster. When one of us locates the boss, we simply quick mail each other." Endrance stated the obvious, as he often did, while he stroked his hair absent mindedly, still scanning the area lazily.

Kuhn nodded in agreement, "Couldn'ta said it better myself." Haseo shrugged 'whatever' and separated from the Brandier and the Steam Gunner in search of the boss. As each of them explored, they couldn't fail to take into account the absence of monsters. Normally, a special event area had at least one monster as a way to weaken the party before the final fight… but this area had none…

_Eh, whatever. _Haseo thought to himself as he kicked a tree and a fat yellow chim chim fell out and scurried around him before it was kicked in the rear. The chim chim squeaked and vanished and Haseo's chim count went up. He wasn't worried about this mission, but he had an annoying tug in his chest that would just not let him be.

Kuhn hummed to himself happily while he teleported around the area. This map was littered with little islands, making it especially difficult to keep track of where you had been unless you kept a tab in real life, which he normally did. He actually had a thick storage of maps he had made and kept incase he ever needed them again. They had all the secrets to the area, where the best items were, how to avoid each monster… These were the tips he would share with newbies and even use himself if he felt the urge. He smiled. Today had been a good day for him, and he felt it would just get better as it went on. Screw Haseo and Endrance's constant pessimism, he was going to be happy to day, by god.

Endrance sighed and dragged his blade along behind him, leaving a thin line in the dirt. If he were able to keep his head out of the clouds today he would be able to see the small pieces of ground he tilled up float into the sky and glitch into nothingness. Today had not been a good day for him… then again, when was it ever. Only when he was with Haseo did his life have meaning. Normally he was nothing more than a hermit too afraid to leave his home, let alone his room.

"asdfjkl;" Endrance's character said in the text box that appeared on the chat screen window.

Haseo made a "wtf" face, and Kuhn chuckled and replied with "awesome Endrance you've finally opened up to the world of spamming!"

Endrance grumbled in real life and took his kitten off the keyboard, setting it in his lap. He didn't feel like explaining to them that it was Ryou being curious about the clacking of the keys. He never felt like explaining anything, it was so much simpler to just be silent and accept whatever came…

He trudged on in silence before coming to another crystal that would transport him to the other islands around him. He tapped it boredly and was transported to an island far off. The Brandier turned around, confused that he could no longer see the land he was on.. Or any surrounding continents. His map was blank, aside from the small circle he now stood on. Endrance absorbed his surroundings quickly, since there was so little to take in. There was a tree in the middle of the continent, and that was all that was to be had.

_Where is the monster…? _He thought to himself in annoyance. Did he really just waste an entire hour looking for nothing? One may ask how does a hermit waste any time at all. To him, all time was wasted when he was not speaking directly to Haseo. Worse yet, he was stuck here. He would have to gate out and try to reenter in order to be off this small prison of land. If he did that then they would be disqualified, and even if that were to slide by, he would not be able to go back into the area until the quest was over, still leaving the other two members of the party to not be given the reward they so deserved.

Endrance signed a long sign and plopped down near the edge of the island. He sat with his cheek resting against his hand, arm propped up on one knee. His slouched and unrefined sitting style detracted from the regal appearance of his character. He laid his sword beside him, as it was of no use to him right now. Closing his eyes, he sent a quick mail to Haseo stating he was 'stranded and unable to come to his aid if he was needed, and for that he was truly sorry'.

Haseo opened with window back up to the area he was in when a short mail alert pinged into his ears. The Rogue was looking for a full map of the area online, and to no avail, this area was too new for anyone to post a cheat code or a full and detailed map. He clicked into it and read it, then growled in his throat. He hated it when Endrance apologized like that, it made him feel like he was viewed as a vengeful slave driver. Haseo sent a shortmail in reply asking where Endrance was. Haseo drummed his fingers on his desk, waiting for a reply. It was strange to see the game Haseo miming him, since he was drumming on thin air. Endrance always took so long in his replies, even when they were incredibly short sometimes they would take up to fifteen minutes just for a short 'yes' or 'no'.

The chiming sound of a reply filled Haseo's ears and he grumbled at its length.

'I don't know.'

_Of course you don't. _Haseo sighed to himself and changed his course of action. If the party was separated they would be unable to participate in the boss fight, so as much as it was a pain in his ass, he left the area he was searching and went to find Endrance. Luckily, Kuhn was close to where Haseo was so at least he wasn't lost, too.

"So Endrance wandered off again?" Kuhn chuckled and folded his arms over his chest, "Ah this place ain't that big. How hard can it be to find a six foot purple pillar in the middle of a puce green landscape?"

"…" Haseo smirked after a moment, "eh, yeah. C'mon." The two party members headed in the northern direction, the only direction still left available since there was nothing on the eastern side of the map.

They trekked on, searching various islands and always getting accidentally split up. Occasionally they would be hit with random "sa;kdjfoaq1928" spam from Endrance.

Kuhn stopped and looked up at the sky, "Haseo, do you think he left? I mean we've kinda been everywhere. There's no where left on my map."

Haseo sighed, "I know, Kuhn, but we would have been alerted-" he stopped to read the interrupting spam, "we would have been alerted if he had left the area cause we would have been gated out."

"Maybe his character glitched and fell through the ground? That's happened to me before."

"Yeah maybe. We still have to keep looking and who knows maybe Endrance has already found the boss and is waiting for us to kick its ass."

Kuhn chuckled, "Knowing him he's probably bored it to death with his monotone drone about Haseo's awesomeness."

Haseo shot a playful glare at his friend, "C'mon, Kuhn."

They resumed making their way further north until they came in contact with some badly injured ground. Haseo's face fell, "Oh no."

Kuhn followed his gaze. Their monitors in real life flashed and glitched like they normally did in an infected area, "We need to find Endrance. Now. Haseo, you take that crystal and tell me where it goes, I'll do the same with that one. If these don't go no where, we're pretty much screwed."

Haseo nodded, "Right."

He touched the crystal and was taken to an island separate from everything else, Kuhn appearing at his side. There was no returner crystals to the previous landmass.

"Hello, Haseo."

Haseo turned, "Endrance." He signed inwardly in relief. He was afraid he was going to find His comatose character. Kuhn narrowed his eyes and scanned the area before him. Something was not right. The sky began to grow darker. Changing weather patterns were still in beta at CC Corp.

"Wow, that's pretty cool. I guess they really spiffed it up for a bonus area huh?" Haseo chuckled.

"Uh.. Yeah." Kuhn mirrored the chuckle emptily.

_You know, little kiddies shouldn't ever play outside…. When it's raining… _A figure jumped down from the tree, the ground they touched turning into a piled mass of infected ground. They stood upright and rested their hand on their hip, cocking their head, _You'd think they'd close this area by now, I mean its just going downhill. Look at this! _The figure lifted their foot and shook off the ground that stuck to their feet.

"Why the hell are you?" Kuhn said demandingly. This was not a boss, no boss had yet to have such a human form, "Are you an AIDA?"

_AIDA…? THAT'S what you call it now? _The figure chuckled in their throat, _That's epic. Please, don't try to be funny because you just aren't._ The figure merged back into their shadows and vanished. _Enough talk. _

Haseo banged on his monitor in real life, it was glitching out so badly that he could not see the screen. Eventually it went totally black, as did Kuhn's.

Haseo slumped in his seat and waited for his computer to turn back on. His heart was racing, his mind was currently paralyzed with what just happened.

Kuhn rested his elbows on his table and rubbed his temples while waiting for his screen to resume normalcy. There was another bug they needed to weed out.

Haseo returned to Mac Anu, thoroughly pissed off. Kuhn appeared beside him a few seconds later.

"So I'm going to talk to Yata and Pi about it. Haseo, see if you can get a list of what players signed up for the event so we can ask what they saw. We need to make sure no one was put into a coma. Mail me when you get any information and I'll do the same." Kuhn said and then vanished to their home.

Haseo nodded and leaned against the walls of the building. He asked a few players across from him and none of them seemed to know what he was talking about, some of them dashing off to sign up for this event.

"Huh… that's weird… normally everyone knows about events the week before… eh, they're probably newbies." He shrugged then something dawned on him. He had not heard from Endrance yet. His heart sank, fearing something happened to his loyal Brandier.

* * *

User: Haseo

User: _Endrance_

**Subject**: What the hell.

_Endrance, where the hell are you. I'm getting really worried about you, especially after what just happened._

* * *

Haseo's heart lept when his mail alert pinged right afterwards, only to be let down that it was information from Kuhn.

* * *

User: Kuhn

User: _Haseo_

**Subject**: AIDA.

_It's a bad situation, Haseo... this is really bad. _

_This AIDA isn't even detectible by CC corp. We're tracking it without Avatars... _

_something about this doesn't make sense..._

_Anything on your end?_

* * *

User: Haseo

User: _Kuhn_

**Subject**: RE: AIDA

_No, I don't have anything yet. The people I've asked looked at me like I was an idiot._

_Nothing made sense last time. At least we have the Azure guardians for information, if we can ever find em again, that is. _

There was a long pause in a reply from Kuhn. Haseo waited impatiently and was rewarded with a shortmail, finally.

* * *

User: Kuhn

User: _Haseo_

**Subject**: RE: AIDA

_Keep looking. Someone has got to know something. _

_I'm having Silabus ask around too._

_I'd forgotten about the Guardians, try getting ahold of Kite. If anyone would know anything it would be him._

_I've gotta go meet with Yata. I'll mail you after and tell you what I've found out. Later, Haseo._

* * *

Haseo pushed himself from the wall and continued waiting for a reply from Endrance. It had been a half hour now. He was about to leave to go see some other members of the home when he was greeted with:

* * *

User: Endrance

User: _Haseo_

**Subject**: RE: What the hell.

…_something is wrong, Haseo..._

_/ delta: hidden forbidden holy ground…/_

* * *

The Rogue was going to send him a reply back, but figured that would just take another half hour and by the time he received the message it would be irrelevant. He warped to the familiar area after checking his inventory.

Haseo arrived at the Cathedral... and what he saw defied every possibility of 'The World'... Something he had seen before, but not to this extreme level.

"This is..."

_-end chapter 2-_


	3. Chapter 3

"Endrance is here... he must be inside..."

The area was infected heavily with viruses... there were so many data anomalies, and parts of the cathedral had begun to decay and were leaving ugly green outlines behind, and even those were slowly disappearing. Red blotches appeared on the walkway with binary codes visible through the entire structure. There was even more, the sky had collapsed into itself and, when standing very still, you could watch it gradually erode away and pieces fall into the waters and fog below. The background behind it was a menacing, empty black. The once beautiful area he would come to think in silence had been destroyed, warped.

Haseo drew his blades and upped his guard, making his way to the doors. They refused to open for him and he had to squeeze his way through a gap in the coding of the side wall. Once inside, everything was normal. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the gap he had entered. It was no longer present. Everything was calm inside the cathedral.

_It's either a trap or someone's idea of a joke._ Haseo thought to himself. Keeping his blades drawn he addressed Endrance, who was not visible.

"Endrance! What's going on here!" He could hear a muttering behind him an turned to one of the pews.

"It's her Haseo… It's all of them…" The Brandier shook his head, refusing to look at his friend.

"Her? Who's her?" He paused and made a face, "Mia?"

There was a long, annoying gap between his question and the answer.

"The girl who wears the sunlight…" Endrance looked up at Haseo then his eyes drifted to the front of the chapel, "She…"

The rogue's eyes followed their path.

"What the…" He lowered his blades and stared confused at the sight. His stomach began to knot viciously.

"A-Aura!" Haseo ran the distance and stopped short of the railing, "What the hell?"

The rogue turned back to his friend, who had gotten up and was making his way calmly over to the scene, "Tell me what happened, Endrance!"

"Someone's... confined her... Haseo, do you think this could have anything to do with the concentrated AIDA?" He stopped short in his tracks, the harsh tone of Haseo's voice being the wall between them.

He sighed, "I don't know…" He narrowed his eyes in thought, searching his memories of the Guardians and that time, "I don't know Endrance, but we need to talk to Yata. I think he's known about this."

"Why do you say that, Haseo…?"

"Because he always keeps shit from us until it gets too big, like… now!" He motioned to the encased figure of Aura.

* * *

User: Haseo

User: _Yata_

**Subject**: AIDA

Endrance has lead me to a corroded area that needs to be shut down and looked over. Aura is… I don't know how to explain it just get _down_ here, Yata.

* * *

He received a quick response back:

* * *

User: Yata

User: _Haseo_

**Subject**: RE: AIDA

Interesting.

I'm looking into now.

* * *

Haseo felt the tone of that message was general "yeah yeah I'll get on it" like a parent does do a kid who needs them to fix a toy, and the toy never gets fixed.

"Come on Endrance… We should leave this area before we get locked in it." He lingered by Aura a moment, took some screen caps at various angles, then pushed himself away from the railing weakly and made his way back over to the entrance.

"Haseo…"

He turned to look at the Brandier. His expression was that of which Haseo had never seen before: fear, "What?"

"If there's… anything you need me for, you won't hesitate… to contact me, will you… Haseo?"

He searched Endrance's face. The desperation was there to know he was needed... but something else was there... The need of another's reassurance.

"Of course. You're one of our best fighters, so we'll be contacting you quite frequently." He chuckled, "Now come on unless you want to end up glitching into the wall or something."

"..." Endrance nodded and they warped back to the root town Mac Anu together.

_…/Loading/…_

_…/Loading/…_

_…/Loading/…_

They were welcomed by the familiar warm shades of the busy town, soft music filling his headset once more. Haseo felt instantly better being out of that area.

"Endrance, why don't you go check out the next town and I'll go meet with Silabus."

"…alright, Haseo." The Brandier said softly and vanished.

* * *

_Ryou looked at the clock. It was almost nine in the evening. How did time slip by so quickly when in the world? Was he staring at Aura longer than he thought?_

_After settling back down in his chair with his dinner, a tonkatsu sandwich, he readjusted his headset._

* * *

"Haseo?"

"Huh? Oh. Hey Silabus. I was about to go see you. Er… do you mind?" Haseo took a step back. He hated people being so close to him.

"Sorry. Anyway, I found out something that I thought you'd be interested in."

"Alright. Shoot."

"I…" He paused, "What's that sound?"

"Hrm? I'm eating. Ignore it." He said through a mouthful of food.

Silabus chuckled, his face quickly sobering after that brief humour, "That quest never existed anywhere, Haseo. I've asked all over Mac Anu, Dol Dona… I've posted all over the message boards, AND I've contacted CC Corp."

_Wow. He really went through a lot… _ "Thanks Silabus."

"What do you think it could be Haseo? A glitched NPC?"

"Maybe… but it let us register and everything and added it to our quest list."

"Well, Gaspard and I had that happen to us once only when we got there we were informed there was an error processing our request. When we looked at our menu we saw it appeared as **ERROR**."

"It kept appearing like a normal quest. But.. There was ONE thing…"

"What is it, Haseo?" Silabus asked curiously, tilting his head somewhat.

"There was another person there."

He chuckled, "Well yeah, I'd imagine. It-"

"Do you remember the doppelgangers, Silabus?"

"Oh... yeah. I hated those… It was really creepy because they would ALWAYS find you."

"Well, they reminded me of one of those."

"Oh. Maybe it was a leftover? Oh! Maybe they shut down the quest because of that area?"

"Maybe. Whatever it was, it wasn't a normal glitch. I know AI is really big in this game but not to that extent."

"I'm sorry I'm not of much help Haseo, I'll keep looking though. Gaspard is helping too. Haha it's kind of fun, actually." He smiled, "I feel like I actually have a purpose in the game again."

Haseo mused, "Thought your duty was to serve and protect the noobs?"

"Eh, after a while even that gets old. It's nice to have something else to take up my time. Well, I gotta get going Haseo. Gaspard wants to look at a few more places before we have to go for the night. Bye." He waved and vanished.

Haseo stayed around Mac Anu for about an hour after that, seeing if there was anything else he could find out or if someone would contact him. When no one did he decided to log off for a while.

* * *

"_A quick nap wouldn't hurt." Ryou said while he jotted down some notes to remember for tomorrow, things he needed to talk to Yata and Kuhn about and things he needed to remember for some silent investigation of his own. He yawned loudly and stumbled off for his bed._

_Falling into it, he signed contently and set is alarm for 3 am when all the others would be asleep. _

_His computer dinged the instant he fell asleep, at 10:45. _

* * *

Sorry this one's a little slower, but it's needed :3


End file.
